New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-03-27


letter to Messrs Myers and Quincy on tho subject
| OF The lrrmanencc VI Sangincous Stains when con-
nccted with Crime. That night al doubts about
the objective existence Of phautasinata were re-
moved forever.
The day had been warm and sunny and, IN
ne cool OF the evening, the whole family went
out to drive They did MT return home TIL o
o'clock when they had light supper. The con-
vclsation in no way turned upon ghosts, so there
were not even those primary conditions OF feccp-
| tive expectation which so often preccdc the pre-
sentaton OF psychical phenomena. The subjects
discussed ms | have since learned from MI. Ots,
were merely such as form the orlilnary CONVERSE
tim Of cultured Americans Of the better Class
such the immense superiority of Miss fanny
! Davenport Sarah Bernhardt as an actress :
| the difficulty Of obtaining green corn bu,liwhcat
cakes and homny even In the best En@lsh houses
the Importance Of Boston in the development or
the world-sOtl; the advantages OF the baggage
check system in railway travelling. and the sweet
ness of the NcwYOrll accent rs compared to the
Lcndon drawl. No mention at all was made oil
the supernatural WAS Sir Simon dc Cuntcr-
willie alluded to in any way. At II o'clock the
family retired and by half past all the hts were
out. Some time after Mr.. Otis was awakened oy
a curious noise in the corridor outside ms room
1t sounded hike the clanll of metal and seemed TO
be coming nearer every moment. He got up at
once struck a match and looked ut the TIRE IL
was cxarly o'clock. lie was quite calm and
felt his pulse, which not at all feverish The
strar:e noise still continued and with 1T he heard
distinctly the sound of footsteps. lie put on ms
slippers, took % small oblonG phial out of his
, drcsSng-casc and opened the door Right in front
of him he SAW IN the moonlight an old man
Of terrible aspect His eyes were rs rcd burning
Goals: long eray hair fell over his shoulders in
matted coils; his garments, which were of an
ti,uc cut, were solcd and ragged, and from ht
wrists and ankles hung heavy manacles and rusty
gives.
"My dear sir said Mr. Otis II really must
insist your oilng those chains, and have
brought you for that purpose a small bottle of
the 1ammanv Rising sun LubricatOr IL Is SAID
TO be completely eihCacious upon one Application
and there several testimonials to that effect
on the wrapper from some of cur most eminent
native divincs l will leave it here for you by
the bedroom candles and VIII &c happy 10 supply
you with more should You require it," With
these words the United States Minister laid the
bottle down on marble table and closing his
door. retired to rest
For a moment the Cantcrville ghost stood quite
motonless in natural indignation; then, dashine
the bottle violently upon the polished floor. he
fed down the corridor uttering hollow groans and
emitting n ghastly green ll@ht Just however
as he reached the top of the great oak staircase
door was flung open, two little white -rObed
figures appeared and large pillow whizzcd past
his head There was evidently no time 10 be lost.
so hastily ado pting the Fourth Dimension of Space
as means of escape he vanished through the
wainscotinS and the house became quite quiet
On reaching a snail secret chamber in the left
wing ho leaned up a"alnst a moonbcam to recover
his breath, and bean to try and realize his posi-
tion. Never in n brilliant and uninterrupted
career of three hundred years. had he been so
grossly insulted He thought Of the Dowagcr
Duchess, whom he had frichtencd into fit as she
stood before the class in her lace and diamonds ::
Of the four hOuScmads. who had gone OF into
Mysteries when he merely eIinncd at them through
the curtains Of one Of the spare bedrooms OF the
rector Of the parish, whose candle he had blown
out ms he coming late one night from the
library, and who had been andcr the care of Sill
NlilIam Gull ever since, perfect martyr 10
nervous disorders and Of old Madame de 1rcmouil
lac, who, having Weakened up one morning early
and seen skeleton sitting IN armchair by the
fire reading her diary. had been confined TO her bed
for six weeks with attack Of brain fever. and
on her recovery, bad become rcconrilcd To the
hlirch and broken off her connection with that
notorious tic, Monsieur de Voltairc lie re-
membered that terrible night when the wicked
LORD 'anter\iile WIS found Chclim" i'm his drS-
ing-roomwIth the llnavc of diamonds half way down
his throat, and confessed Just before he died that
he had cheated Charles James Fox out Of cjO. 900
at Crockiofd's by means Of that very card and
swo1c that The ghost had made Lirl swallow it
All his great a'hcvcmcnts came back 10 him
again, fiom the butler who shot himself IN the
pantry because he had seen n green hand tapping
nj the window pane TO the beautiful Lady slut
field, who was always OBLIGED TO wear n blacl,
velvet band round her throat to hide the mark If
i've fingers burnt upon her white ska and who
or wned herself at last in the carp pond the end
OF Ihe kln.'s walk. With the enthusiastic ego.
tism Of the true artist he went over his most
celebrated performances, and smiled bitterly TO
hlicsclf as he recalled TO mind his last appearance
as "Red Reuben. or the Stransled Babe his
u'put as Gnint Gideon the Blood-sirlcr Of BcX-
ley Moor, and the furOrc he had excited one
bN MIA inc
with his own bones upon the lawn-tcnnis ground
ana after all this some wTcChcd modern Ancri.
cans were TO come and offer hun the Rising sun
Lupncator and throw pillows at his head II
was quite unbcarable. Besides no ghost in his.
tory had ever been treated in this manner Ac.
coldingly he determined to have vengeance and
remained I'LL daylight in an attitude of deep
thought
The next morning, when the Otis family met at
breakfast, they discussed the ghost at some length
Inc United states Minister was naturally little
annoyed 10 find that his present had not been 40.
ccptcd. II have no wish he said "to do tbo
ghost any personal injury, and l must saw that
considering tho length of time he has been i'm the
house don't think it Is at all polite 70 throw
pillows at blm"-a very Just remark al which, |
am sorry to say, the twins bust into shouts Of
laughter. Upon the other hand" he continued
IF he really declines to use the Rising sun La.
br1cator We will have {" take his chains from him
III would be quite impossible to sleep with such q
nose going on outside the bedrooms For the
rest or the week, however, they were undisturbcd.
tho only thing tIat excited anv attention bcno
the continual renewal Of the blood stain on the
library floor. THIS certainly was very stranpc ms
the door was always locked at night by Mr. Otis
and the windows kept closely barred The chamc.
| leon-llke color, also Of the stain excited a good
deal OF comment Some mornings il was n Gull
almost Indlan red, then it would be vermilion
then rich purple. and once when they came
down for family prayers they found it bright
emerald green These Kaleidoscope changes nat
urally amused the party very much and bets on
the subject were freely made every evening. The
only person who did not enter into the joke was
little Virginia, who, fer some unexplained reason
was always good deal distressed at the sight of
the blood-stan and very neatly cried the morning
| 4